In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
We are continuing to share true testimonies of the guardian angels of some saints.
This is Episode 2 of this series. We live so immersed and preoccupied with the realities
of this material world that we easily forget about the spiritual realities.
Many Catholics no longer believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist,
or in the virginity of Mary, or in the existence of angels; and they believe that God is so good
and merciful that after this life, everyone will be forgiven and go to heaven sooner or later.
The truth is that God is infinitely merciful and is always willing to forgive,
but He respects human freedom. And the sad thing is that there are many human beings who do not
want to have anything to do with God and reject Him directly.
And God will only have the option to respect their decision for all eternity if they want to go to hell with the demons.
Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich
who lived from 1774 to 1824
had a great friendship with and full trust in her angel, whom she had seen since her earliest childhood.
While still a child, when her parents went to sleep, she would get up from her bed and
pray with her guardian angel for two or three hours, and often until dawn.
Her angel was her guide and companion.
And she was like a docile and silent child in the hands of her angel.
While she did not have the spiritual direction of the priests of the Church, the angel
was her only guide, whose indications regulated her life.
But when Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich
began to receive the holy sacraments and to submit to the judgment of the confessor, she showed him
the same submission and the same respect that she had previously shown to her angel.
She never entered the house of God without being accompanied by her guardian angel, in
whom she had the model of how she should behave in adoration before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
Her angel did not allow her the slightest imperfection, punishing her faults with reprimands
and penances, which many times were painful, and always of much interior humiliation.
For these she judged herself very harshly, while her heart overflowed with kindness and sweetness for others.
Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich had asked God to preserve her from all sin and to make her
know and fulfill His holy will.
God heard her prayer.
He accompanied her step by step
to protect her and enlighten her through her angel on her long journey of a life of work,
combat and suffering.
He taught her how to face danger, endure suffering,
and fight in combat.
Also, her angel showed the servant of God in advance in visions or
symbols her sufferings near or far from her, so that she asked for strength to bear them.
He also showed her any important events or encounters with people so she would behave accordingly.
And Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich received precise warnings about how to behave.
And, if necessary, the angel told her the terms in which she should express herself. This request of
the angel extended to all the objects, works and matters that she had to take care of.
When she worked as a seamstress, her hands were directed by her angel
with firmness and security. She at first fearfully approached the sewing table,
because she knew she couldn't get rid of the images that took her spirit away,
and she didn't want to attract attention.
But her pleas for his help were heard,
and the angel put in her mouth the words that she was to answer when she was unexpectedly questioned,
and the angel governed her hands so that the work would not fall from her hands.
One night the servant of God bilocated to a large church and she saw the Blessed Sacrament
surrounded by angels.
And she relates
I saw the resplendent figure of the Child Jesus.
I spent almost the whole night accompanied by my angel in front of the Blessed Sacrament.
Her angel took her many times on trips around the world to help people.
She herself assures
The angel calls me and guides me, now to one place, now to another. I often go in his company.
He leads me where there are people I know or have seen, and other times where there are
others I don't know.
He carries me over the sea with the rapidity of thought, and then I see far, far away.
He was the one who took me to the prison where the queen of France was.
When he approaches me to accompany me somewhere,
most of the time I see a flash and then his figure
suddenly appears from the darkness of the night, like a firework suddenly ignited.
As we travel
it is night above us. We go from here, through known regions, to others more and more distant,
Now we go on streets or straight paths,
and I think we have covered extraordinary distances.
now we twist in fields, mountains, rivers and seas.
I have to walk all the roads and climb steep
mountains many times
my knees are weak with pain, and my feet burn, because I always go barefoot.
My guide flies, sometimes in front of me, and sometimes at my side, always very quiet and calm;
and he accompanies his brief responses with a wave of the hand or a nod of the head.
He is bright and transparent
either stern or kind.
His hair is straight,
loose and gives off reflections; he is bareheaded and wears a long robe resplendent like gold.
I speak confidently with him, but I can never see his face, for I am humiliated in his presence.
He gives me instructions, and I am ashamed to ask him many things, prevented by the heavenly joy I feel
when I am in his company.
He is always very moderate in his words.
I also see him awake.
When I pray for others, and he is not with me, I call on him to go with
the guardian angel of the people I am praying for.
If he is with me
I say many times
“Now I will stay here alone; you go there and console those people”
And then I see him disappear.
One day I received from my guardian angel a jar full of balm.
It was a whitish liquor,
similar to a thick oil.
I used it on a serious wound that was made by a basket full of wet white clothes that fell on me.
I was also able to cure other poor sick people with that balm.
The jar was pear-shaped
with a long, thin neck.
Its size was like that of a small bottle or a perfume bottle.
It was made of a very transparent material and I had it in my closet for a long time.
At another time I received small portions of a food very sweet to the palate,
of which I ate for a long time and of which I gave to the poor to cure them.
The Superior,
having found it, he reprimanded me
since I could not say where I had received it from.
Saint Anthony Mary Claret who lived between the years 1807 and 1870 tells us that in Marseilles,
on his first trip to Rome, he was met by a young man who seemed more like an angel than a man,
so modest and so happy and serious at the same time,
so religious and devoted, who always took him to the temples.
On another occasion he says
I had to cross the river Besós in Spain that carried a lot of water.
I was about to take off my shoes when an unknown boy approached me and said
"Don't take off your shoes I'll pass you across."
Will you pass me?
You are very small, you won't even be able to
carry me on your shoulders
let alone pass me across the river.
And the unknown boy said
"You'll see how I get you through it."
In fact, he passed me across perfectly without getting wet.
This testimony is also considered to have been his angel.
In addition
Saint Anthony Mary Claret frequently spoke to us about the angels
and specifically about his guardian angel.
While he was a seminarian he had a strong temptation
against purity
the saint says
I went to Mary Most Holy and invoked my holy guardian angel.
When the servant of God was in the missions he said
I never, ever forgot to invoke the glorious
Saint Michael the Archangel
and the guardian angels, especially my guardian angel
the angel of the kingdom, the angel of the province, the angel of the town where I preached
and the guardian angel of each person in particular.
And he adds
I have visibly known the protection of
the holy guardian angels.
The Blessed Virgin Mary and her angels guided me through unknown paths,
freed me from thieves and murderers and brought me to a safe harbor without knowing how.
Among his purposes for the exercises of the years 1860 and 1861, Saint Anthony Mary Claret
puts the dedication of Mondays to the special devotion to the angels.
In the Process of beatification of Saint Anthony Mary Claret
it is noted that he was very devoted to Saint Michael the Archangel.
He instituted an academy
named Saint Michael and the saint honored all angels, especially his guardian angel.
Saint John Bosco also known as Don Bosco has an amazing testimony.
He tells us exactly
At the end of November 1854, on a dark and rainy afternoon, I was returning from the city and at a certain
point I noticed that two men were walking a short distance from me.
They quickened or slowed down
each time I quickened or slowed down.
When I tried to pass to the other side to avoid the encounter,
they cleverly moved in front of me.
I wanted to retrace my steps
but it was not possible,
because they suddenly jumped back
and without saying a word,
threw a blanket over me.
I did my best not to let myself get involved, but it was all useless.
Even more, one insisted on gagging me with a handkerchief.
I wanted to scream, but uselessly.
At that precise moment "Grey" appeared and, howling like a bear,
lunged with his
forelegs at one and with his mouth open at the other, so they had to wrap the dog before me.
“Grey” continued howling like a wolf or like an enraged bear.
They resumed
their journey and "Grey", always by my side, accompanied me until I reached Cottolengo.
Many afternoons when I was not accompanied by anyone, as soon as I left behind the last
buildings, I saw "Grey" appear by one side of the road.
I caressed him and offered him food,
bread and stew, but he refused.
Even more, he didn't even want to sniff it.
The last time I saw "Grey" was in the year 1866.
I could never know who his owner was.
I only know
that the animal was a true providence for me in the many dangers in which I found myself.
It should be noted that Grey appeared in 1883, that is, 29 years after his first appearance.
This means that it was not a dog, but probably the guardian angel of the saint.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.